Following Publishers Weekly Dust-Up, Judith Jones Elaborates on What She Said About Julie Powell

July 21, 2009

On Monday, Publishers Weeklycooked up a stir with an article in which Julia Child’s famed editor, Judith Jones, recounted what Child said of Julie & Julia‘s Julie Powell: “I don’t think she’s a serious cook.”

Slashfood tracked down Jones at her Vermont home to follow up on the comment, and now has posted an interview with the longtime Knopf editor, who helped craft Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking.

Jones elaborated on her earlier remarks, telling Slashfood, “people are curious about what Julia thought of Julie. I think it [the
blog] made Julia feel that she wasn’t very serious. Had she met her —
Julia was enormously supportive of people — this is my interpretation,
she didn’t think she was a serious cook … not that she would have
said mean things.”

As for whether Jones would want to meet Powell, she hedged a bit, saying, “I don’t know … in the film she comes across as very appealing.”